Minority Media Summit in Detroit on Tuesday, July 24

DETROIT —Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Wayne County CEO Warren Evans, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and publishers of the region’s biggest ethnic newspapers gathered at Wayne State University for the 2019 Minority Media Summit at the University’s McGregor Conference Center on Tuesday, July 24.

The purpose of the event was to discuss with ethnic media representatives and publications the upcoming 2020 Census, during which billions of dollars and Congressional seats will be at stake.

“Everything from education to yes, the roads is impacted by the dollars we draw into the state of Michigan,” Whitmer said.

She referenced the Census count, which will determine the federal funds Michigan receives in the coming years.

“What I learned from knocking on doors all those years ago was that people respond to who they trust,” said Duggan.

Evans also emphasized the importance of ethnic media for building trust in the 2020 Census and for ensuring that as many Metro Detroit and Michigan residents as possible are counted.

The event was moderated by Dr. Hayg Oshagan, the Executive Director of New Michigan Media (NMM), a network of ethnic and minority media outlets within the state. Dr. Oshagan noted how important it was for minority media to work together to have a louder voice. He thanked the Michigan Nonprofit Association for partnering with NMM to make this event possible.

The publishers and other media representatives from over 40 ethnic and minority media outlets in southeast Michigan, discussed how best to reach their individual communities and how to combat the growing fear of repercussion felt in minority communities since the beginning of the Trump administration. The event included representation from the Yemeni, Filipino, African American, Latino, Arab-American, Jewish, Native American, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Japanese, Polish, Korean, Indian, Armenian, Vietnamese, and Albanian communities.

Gutierrez, Siblani and others said restoring trust is a major challenge.

“People in this country believe in their government relatively speaking compared to other countries. However in recent years, this trust has been shaken, sometimes destroyed,” Siblani said about the Arab American community.

Michigan stands to lose another Congressional seat and a reduction in the number of electoral college votes if its population is not properly counted in 2020. It could also lose $1,800 per person per year of federal funding to support programs that use Census data.

Census data is used by officials to distribute about $30 billion per year in funds to Michigan for hundreds of programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, education, infrastructure, school lunch programs, Headstart, student loans, housing and more.